The CityNow That Everything's Been Said

A masterpiece of 60s rock, Now That Everything’s Been Said has been waiting for a vinyl reissue for far too long. The City, songwriter Carole King’s band, is brimming with optimistic, polyphonic and rebellious energy. A great opportunity to dig up your mum's wide jeans and the shades your dad always used to brag about.

REVIEWS

We all know Carole King from ‘Tapestry’ and the various songs she wrote for other people in the '60's (many in tandem with former hubby Gerry Goffin) you know...‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ and that lot. Less is known is about her pre-solo years band, The City.
Joining a progressive folk rock band was pretty much the last thing you’d have expected King to do. The record wasn’t quite the success everyone expected it to be at the time but it’s now worth re-evaluating it as a powerful and confident statement that leads to the roots of ‘Tapestry’. Opener ‘Snow Queen’ is a stinking way to start the record -- it’s full of jazzy poly-rhythms and complex twists and turns. It has that choral late ’60s/early ’70s sound and bursts into a beautiful melancholic chorus. You may know ‘Now that Everything’s Been Said’ from the Brian Wilson assisted American Spring album -- this version has bizarre left and right panning on not only the vocals but the guitar sits far left in your ear. With King’s voice so remote it has an unfinished feel but the songwriting power is undimmed. Although the City have the typical wide ranging influences (jazz/folk and funk) of the era, its tough stuff and is a lot more strident than the hippy mysticism of harmony groups like Crosby Stills and Nash and the Mamas and Papas. ‘Victim of Circmstanmce’ for example heads almost towards Motown territory and certainly sounds like the kind of brisk pop that you could imagine the Monkees singing.
King’s voice is terrific throughout - as smooth and clear as running water. There’s a homespun hokey almost music hall feel to some of the later tracks, it’s not as bedsit and as soft as what would come later but this should now hopefully have its place in the annals of '70s harmony pop.